Balljet tank cleaner

ABSTRACT

This invention is directed to a cleaning device for the tanks or holds of ships and includes a resiliently surfaced hollow ball that is rotatably suspended from a water supply hose and is provided on its surface with a plurality of spaced nozzles so constructed and directed as to cause the ball to undergo rotary, swinging and/or jerky motions by reaction from the water jets emerging from the nozzles. A swingably connected pendant weight is employed to dampen the movements of the ball.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Henry J. Modrey 158 Eagle Drive, Stamford, Conn. 06903 [21] Appl. No. 851,670 [22] Filed Aug. 20, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 5, 1971 [32] Priority Jan. 21, 1969 [33] Great Britain [31 3348/69 [54] BALLJET TANK CLEANER 8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 239/251, 239/534 [51] Int. Cl B05b 3/06 [50] Field of Search 239/229, 251,534, 576; 244/31 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.8,841 8/1879 Delmage 239/251 X 181,614 8/1876 Abbott 239/251 X 380,039 3/1888 Johnson 239/576 X 540,218 5/1895 239/251 1,281,493 10/1918 239/251 X 2,074,052 3/1937 239/251 X 2,607,625 8/1952 239/251 X 2,608,438 8/1952 McDonald et a1. 239/229 3,176,327 4/1965 Oberth 244/31 X FOREIGN PATENTS 90,748 8/1896 Germany 239/534 Primary ExaminerM. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Edwin D. Grant Alt0rneyHane & Baxley ABSTRACT: This invention is directed to a cleaning device for the tanks or holds of ships and includes a resiliently surfaced hollow ball that is rotatably suspended from a water supply hose and is provided on its surface with a plurality of spaced nozzles so constructed and directed as to cause the ball to undergo rotary, swinging and/or jerky motions by reaction from the water jets emerging from the nozzles. A swingably connected pendant weight is employed to dampen the movements of the ball.

PATENTEU um sen SHEET 2 OF 2 Arramvsrs BALLJET TANK CLEANER THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to new and useful improvements in device for cleaning the walls of liquid storage tanks and particularly seeks to provide a novel portable balljet cleaner for the holds of oil tankers.

Tank-cleaning machines in the present use are either permanently installed in the hold or can be lowered through and opening in the deck plates. In those which are permanently installed in selected locations in the tanks, each spray unit consists of sprinkler heads which are slowly rotated by a gear arrangement. Due to the high water pressure used (180 p.s.i.), they have a theoretical impingement circle of up to 120 ft. However, the numerous baffles and partitions installed in tanks, prevent utilization of the full impingement circle. Therefore, a relatively large number of permanently installed units is required to achieve effective coverage of a tank.

Permanent installations are therefore expensive as regards both cost price, installation and maintenance. They require periodic overhaul because the entire installation is permanently submerged in crude oil and may not be used for many months at a time. Unless the mechanism is perfectly sealed, the crude oil sludge may affect the mechanism. As there is no way of testing or servicing the installation while submerged in crude oil, any malfunction becomes evident only when the cleaning machines are put into operation.

Portable washing machines in present use consist of a rotating sprinkler head which is lowered in to the tank. They are either attached to a strong support member which is affixed temporarily to the deck opening, or to a pressure hose gradually unwound from a reel, either manually or automatically. The rotating sprinkler head is made from bronze and carries several rotating nozzles and a gear box which slowly turns the head. The impingement circle of this type of sprinkler is vertical, so that the reactive force generated by the nozzle does not cause the sprinkler head to swivel or turn. If any swaying movement were to develop, the sprinkler head would soon crash into one of the partitions in the tank and would be destroyed, causing damage to the tank at the same time.

This requirement for clearance of existing types of portable spray heads renders them relatively inefficient because they cannot be brought sufficiently close to the surface to be cleaned, even through they may be capable of wetting down a surface up to a radius of 120 ft. In the cleaning of tanks, wetting alone is generally not satisfactory. It is the mechanical impingement force of the water or cleaning fluid which is largely responsible for loosening encrusted oil sludge and other deposits. However, the impingement force decreases with the square of the distance from the nozzles.

Accordingly, the problem is to create a portable washing device that can be brought into close proximity with a surface to be cleaned so as to take advantage of strong impingement forces, yet also be capable of wetting down such surfaces from a substantial distance.

A balljet tank cleaner constructed in accordance with this invention solves that problem.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a portable cleaning device for the holds of oil tankers that includes a ball-shaped sprinkler head having a plurality of nozzles arranged to impart both rotary and bodily motion to the sprinkler head as it is being used.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cleaning device of the character stated in which the sprinkler head and nozzles are either formed from elastomeric materials or are at least heavily coated with same so that the device may bounce against a tank surface without harm to either.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning device of the character stated in which the sprinkler nozzles are all tangentially oriented in the same direction in relation to the equatorial plane of the ball, whereby to cause the sprinkler head to rotate by reaction from the jet thrusts from the nozzles.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning device of the character stated that includes a stabilizing weight attached to the bottom of the ball-shaped sprinkler head.

A further object of this invention is to providea modified form of sprinkler head that includes several different types of sprinkler nozzles arranged to impart an erratic motion to the sprinkler head.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cleaning device of the character stated that is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture.

With these and other objects, the nature of which will be apparent, the invention will be more fully understood by references to the drawings, the accompanying detailed description and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a balljet cleaning device constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section through one of the nozzles and is taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of a modification of the cleaning device;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section of a radial nozzle for the modification of FIG. 3, and is taken along line 4-4 thereof;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section of a tangential nozzle for the modification of FIG. 3, is the same as that shown in FIG. 2, and is taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section of a so-called whip nozzle for the modification of FIG. 3 showing the nozzle in its deflected position and is taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the noule in its nondeflected position.

Referring to the drawings in detail the invention, as illustrated, is embodied in a ball jet cleaning device for the holds of oil tankers or other storage tanks and includes a hallow ball 5 which forms the body of a sprinkler head and which, for example, may be fabricated from rubber, resilient plastic or rubber covered fiberglass or steel.

The ball 5 is suspended from and connected to a pressure hose 6 by a pressure-proof swivel joint 7 and is weighted at its lower end by a pendant weight 8 swingably connected thereto as by a chain 9 or other suitable flexible means.

In the form shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings a plurality of tangential rubber nozzles 10 are removably affixed to the ex terior of the ball 5 or are formed integrally therewith and are symmetrically disposed in relation to the equatorial plane of the ball. The nozzles I0 all face in the same tangential direction so that when water or cleaning liquid is expelled therethrough at high pressure, the reaction will cause the entire sprinkler head to spin rapidly in a direction opposite to that of the water jets from the nozzles.

In this construction, the suspension hose 6 may be moved at will without the necessity for maintaining clearance between the rotating sprinkler head and wall portions of the tank being cleaned, because if contact should occur therebetween the resilient nature of the sprinkler head and its nozzles will avoid harm either to the head or to the contacted surface, and the head will bounce back from the contacted surface. Accordingly, the sprinkler head may be moved as desired to exert strong impingement cleaning on close surfaces while at the same time wetting down other surfaces at greater distances. The sprinkler head may be made to sway during rotation either as the result of an asymmetrical arrangement of the nozzles 10 or by blocking off certain of the nozzles.

For tank cleaning operation it is generally desirable to cause multidirectional movements of the sprinkler head. This may be effected by the modification illustrated in FIGS. 3-7 of the drawings in which a hollow ball 11, similar to the ball 5 of FIG. I, is suspended from and connected to a pressure hose 12 by a swivel joint 13 and is weighted at its lower end by a pendant weight 14 swingably connected thereto as by a chain 15 or other suitable flexible means.

In this modification a plurality of radially directed rubber nozzles 16 (see FIG. 4) are removably affixed to or are formed integrally with the ball 11 at selected positioned on the surface thereof to produce water jets of maximum throw and impingement. Similarly, a plurality of tangential rubber nozzles 17 (see FIG. 5), like the nozzles of FIG. 2, are removably affixed to the ball 11 at selected positions on the surface thereof so that the water jets impart in part a spinning motion to the ball; and a plurality of rubber whip nozzles 18 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) are removably affixed to the ball 11 at selected positions on the surface thereof so that the intermittent water jets therefrom impart a jerky motion to the ball.

These three different types and arrangements of nozzles will cause the ball to move in an erratic compound motion consisting of spinning, pendulum swinging, jerking (caused by the whip nozzles 18) and rebounding following contact with a tank surface. Such motion will make certain that the device, quickly, will not only wet large areas including those around partitions and other obstacles, but will do so from positions close to the surfaces to be cleaned to take advantage of the more effective cleaning that results from intensive spray impact.

When using water under high pressure, the more complex construction shown in FIG. 3 is not required because the simpler design shown in FIG. 1 (which represents the preferred embodiments) fulfills all requirements for movement of the ball. It is practically impossible to balance unidirectional nozzles 10 in such a manner that the ball receives only a spinning motion. The slightest imbalance imparts a swinging motion to the ball. As a result, the forcibly ejected water streams hit certain obstructions such as partitions from a closer distance that other. The unequal reactive forces now contribute to the imbalance of the system, with the result that after a few seconds operation, the spinning ball bounces erratically in the tank space, swinging from side to side against partitions and girders. This multiplanar movement is so pronounced and so rapid that all parts of the tank are washed from immediate proximity with very great impingement force, and that the ball literally jumps alongside and behind partitions. Not even counterweight 8 is required to maintain swinging action. Counterweight 8 can be omitted altogether or it can be replaced by weighting the bottom of the ball with shot.

I claim:

1. In a device for washing the tanks or holds of ships, a hollow ball having at least a resilient outer surface, a swivel joint located at the top of the vertical axis of said ball for rotary and swinging connection to a water supply hose, and a plurality of nozzles affixed to the exterior of said ball directly extending therefrom at selected locations for imparting swinging and rotary motions to said ball by reaction of the water jets emerging from said nozzles when said swivel joint is operably connected to said water supply hose.

2. The device of claim 1 additionally including a weight movably attached to said ball at a location diametrically opposite that of said swivel joint.

3. The device of claim 2 in which said nozzles are tangential and extend in the same direction whereby to impart a rotary motion of said ball when in use.

4. The device of claim 3 additionally including at least one radial nozzle affixed to the exterior of said ball at a location to impart a swinging component of motion to said ball when in use in addition to said rotary motion.

5. The device of claim 4 additionally including at least one self-opening and -closing whip nozzle affixed to the exterior of said ball at a location to impart an intermittent jerky motion to said ball when in use in addition to said rotary and swinging components of motion.

6. The device of claim 3 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material.

7. The device of claim 4 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material.

8. The device of claim 5 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material. 

1. In a device for washing the tanks or holds of ships, a hollow ball having at least a resilient outer surface, a swivel joint located aT the top of the vertical axis of said ball for rotary and swinging connection to a water supply hose, and a plurality of nozzles affixed to the exterior of said ball directly extending therefrom at selected locations for imparting swinging and rotary motions to said ball by reaction of the water jets emerging from said nozzles when said swivel joint is operably connected to said water supply hose.
 2. The device of claim 1 additionally including a weight movably attached to said ball at a location diametrically opposite that of said swivel joint.
 3. The device of claim 2 in which said nozzles are tangential and extend in the same direction whereby to impart a rotary motion of said ball when in use.
 4. The device of claim 3 additionally including at least one radial nozzle affixed to the exterior of said ball at a location to impart a swinging component of motion to said ball when in use in addition to said rotary motion.
 5. The device of claim 4 additionally including at least one self-opening and -closing whip nozzle affixed to the exterior of said ball at a location to impart an intermittent jerky motion to said ball when in use in addition to said rotary and swinging components of motion.
 6. The device of claim 3 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material.
 7. The device of claim 4 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material.
 8. The device of claim 5 in which said ball and said nozzles are made from an elastomeric material. 